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Hebrew language
Hebrew teacher Sapri Sale (center, with white shirt) with his students in Jakarta, February 2018 (Conny Dwirani)
March 13, 2018, 1:15 am
Muslim man opens first-ever Hebrew course in Indonesia
While some criticize effort to promote language, Sapri Sale's previously published Hebrew-Indonesian dictionary received endorsement from senior imam
By Raphael Ahren
Seder Tephiloth mikol HaShanah [prayers for the whole year], according to the Ashkenazic rite with instructions in Yiddish. Printed entirely on vellum in Mantua by Venturino Roffi nello for Meir b. Ephraim and Yaakov b. Naphtali, 1558. (Kestenbaum & Company)
November 7, 2017, 10:12 pm
Who’s selling treasures from the Valmadonna Trust Library? Depends who you ask
Months after the finest and largest private collection of Jewish books was acquired for the National Library of Israel, some of its most valuable selections are up for auction
By Renee Ghert-Zand
First graders learn Israeli dance at Hebrew Language Academy, a Brooklyn charter school that teaches Hebrew and Israeli culture, but not Judaism. (Ben Sales via JTA)
October 30, 2017, 8:57 am
A Hebrew charter school takes a not-so-Jewish trip to Israel
As a recipient of public funding, Brooklyn's Hebrew Language Academy to avoid Jewish topics, instead focus on Israeli culture
By Ben Sales
October 4, 2017, 5:48 pm
Past unreal conditional
How to respond to the self-appointed modestly police when you don't know the language
By Malynnda Littky
September 15, 2017, 2:10 pm
Me, my daughter, and IDF Heblish
When learning the army's lingo is a labor of love
By Brenda Stein Dzaldov
Gabriel Birnbaum, senior researcher at Historical Dictionary Project at Israel's Academy of the Hebrew Language in Jerusalem, shows an old Hebrew text on his personal computer at his office in Jerusalem, August 23, 2017. (AFP/MENAHEM KAHANA)
September 14, 2017, 4:42 pm
Epic quest is documenting the ‘miracle’ of the Hebrew language
Researchers are painstakingly building lexicon of every word in ancient tongue through to its modern incarnation
By Mike Smith
19-year-old Omar al-Abed, the perpetrator of a terror attack in the settlement of Halamish on July 21, 2017 (Facebook photo)
July 23, 2017, 3:33 pm
How do you say ‘terror’?
Modern Hebrew has no word for it, but the Bible does, along with a lesson about truth and peace
By Yoseif Bloch
June 1, 2017, 3:28 pm
An assault on language
Curse words pepper common speech and writing nowadays in ways that undermine nuance and cheapen language
By Erica Brown
May 27, 2017, 12:53 am
‘My master’ vs. ‘my husband’
God Himself wants the relationship between husband and wife to be one of partnership and not one of mastery
By Sharona Margolin Halickman
The ad from The Academy of the Hebrew Language, advertising the institution's contest to find a new Hebrew word for fidget spinners (Courtesy The Academy of the Hebrew Language)
May 14, 2017, 10:29 pm
Wordsmiths toy with Hebrew word for fidget spinner
The Academy of the Hebrew Language has challenged Israelis to find the right term for the popular revolving toy
By Jessica Steinberg
Illustrative: The Knesset, Israel's parliament building in Jerusalem. (Orel Cohen/Flash90)
May 10, 2017, 1:35 pm
Full text of MK Avi Dichter’s 2017 ‘Jewish State’ bill
The latest version of the proposed 'Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People'
By Raoul Wootliff
An Israeli flag at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 24, 2017. (Lior Mizrahi/Flash90)
May 10, 2017, 1:08 pm
Author of controversial ‘Jewish State’ bill insists it’s unprejudiced and fair
Avi Dichter has been working for six years on legislation to define Israel as a Jewish state. Now, with government backing, he says he's certain it will pass -- to Israel's abiding benefit
By Raoul Wootliff
Amar’e Stoudemire speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, August 8, 2016. (Flash90)
April 27, 2017, 5:47 am
Former NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire is studying Hebrew
The 34-year-old Hapoel Jerusalem player, who speaks regularly of his love for Israel, posts a photo of himself studying from language workbooks
By JTA
March 6, 2017, 6:14 am
The politics of pastry
When a stroll through Jerusalem's Arab shuk becomes crash course in prejudice and diplomacy
By Emma S. Jacobs
ancient hebrew writing (ancient hebrew writing image via Shutterstock)
February 15, 2017, 4:01 pm
My love letter to Hebrew
The revival of an ancient language is miraculous; to speak it, even poorly, is to join in that miracle
By Sally Abrams
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